The present invention relates to a new and distinct hybrid cultivar of Medinilla plant, botanically known as Medinilla hybrid, hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘ROYAL FLAZH’. The genus of Medinilla belongs to the Melastomataceae family.
Medinilla ‘ROYAL FLAZH’ is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventors, Elly Bak and Nico D. M. Steur, in Assendelft, the Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Medinilla varieties with good growing habits and attractive inflorescence.
The new Medinilla ‘ROYAL FLAZH’ originated from a crossing made in a controlled breeding program by the inventors in 2005 in Assendelft, the Netherlands. The female or seed parent is the Medinilla selection designated ‘82797015’ (unpatented), and the male or pollen parent is the Medinilla selection designated ‘82796501’ (unpatented). ‘ROYAL FLAZH’ was discovered and selected by the inventors in 2007, as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Assendeift, the Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new Medinilla hybrid ‘ROYAL FLAZH’ performed by vegetative means by cuttings was first performed in 2007, in Assendeift, The Netherlands. The first ‘ROYAL FLAZH’ plants propagated through the use of cuttings flowered in 2008, in Assendeift, The Netherlands, and have demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new cultivar are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction. The new cultivar reproduces true-to-type.